This was an incredible memoir. I would have loved Bethany’s story even if I wasn’t a One Tree Hill fan. She survived A LOT of religious trauma - people could learn so much through her story.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the gifted copy!

Definitely one of the better celebrity memoirs I’ve read. It gets deeper than I expected emotionally, and she’s really good at looking back at red flags in a nuanced way. There’s not a lot of One Tree Hill if that’s what you want.

As a fan of both One Tree Hill and the Drama Queens podcast I was intrigued to learn more about Bethany Joy Lenz's story of being part of a cult. This memoir is well-written, engaging, and an overall excellent celebrity memoir. It's easy to understand how she got sucked into the cult in her early 20s. That age is a vulnerable time for everyone and she had the perfect combination of qualities to make her the "perfect target" - devout, talented, and lonely. There were many points in which my heart broke for her - especially learning that she sacrificed her dream of Broadway TWICE.

This may not be the most wild cult story but it's probably one more people, particularly anyone with any sort of connection to American Christianity (especially nondenominational Evangelical Christianity) can understand. Not all Christian churches/bible study groups are cults but this book depicts how easily faith can be used and twisted by narcissistic, power hungry people into something that manipulates and harms others. As Bethany Joy Lenz shows in this book, a lot of the reason why she didn't question things in the beginning was because a lot of it wasn't any different than things she was taught in church growing up - covenants, complementary gender roles, making sacrifices to prove one's faith, talk about "The Enemy", etc. This manipulation of faith is insidious and unfortunately more common in American Christian Culture than I think people realize (with varying degrees of severity). As with any cult, it's hard for people to question - especially because there are a lot of sects that will tell people who question things that they're being manipulated by The Enemy and will lose their salvation because of it. It always saddens me to see Christianity being used as a weapon in this way and I hope her story will help save a lot of people from spiritual abuse.

I respect Bethany Joy Lenz a lot for not losing her faith completely through all of this as it would be very easy to do. There's a beautiful scene in one of the last few chapters of her pleading with God and then subsequently feeling His presence which was particularly moving. My own Christian faith and hers don't quite align (my own views contrast quite a bit with the Reformed Christianity of Tim Keller who she mentions in this book many times) but I always enjoy reading about people's individual faith journeys.

First off, thank you Simon & Schuster, Bethany Joy Lenz, and NetGalley for the amazing ARC read!

Dinner For Vampires was incredible. Bethany Joy Lenz' untold story of being in a religious cult while on OTH hooked me immediately. I'm a huge fan of OTH and have (inconsistently) listened to Drama Queens over the years, so I knew I wanted to read this book as soon as I could. Lenz' story made me feel so empathetic towards the poor young girl who was manipulated into an evil cult that disguised itself in the name of religion. It also made my blood boil that these people stole a decade of her life and millions of dollars away from her. It shows how brave Lenz is in sharing the vulnerable story.

Everyone should read this book. It reads like a fiction book because the storytelling is so incredible, but it makes it even easier to devour knowing that it's a true story and trying to imagine yourself in Lenz' position.

It’s hard to rate memoirs. I had to read this as an avid OTH fan, especially having read both of Hilarie Burton Morgan’s memoirs. The religious cult aspect was difficult to read through, but that’s not Joy’s fault at all. It also helped to know some of the background on the stuff going on with the OTH creators, etc.

Try listening on audio: CMM & James Lafferty read their own parts and it definitely adds to the experience.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I don't typically go for a memoir but I love anything that has to do with cults so of course I had to give this a try. I really enjoyed getting inside her head to understand how an adult finds themselves in a cult and why they don't just leave. It was also really frustrating hearing what she went through, because I wanted to reach through the book and tell young Bethany that she was being taken advantage of.

I liked this better than I thought!

Links to come!

brb gonna go rewatch one tree hill and listen to her podcast

Three things I LOVE 1) a celebrity memoir 2) the behind the scenes of a TV show I have watched/loved 3) a cult story and this book had all three!!!!

Honestly this may have been one of my favorite books I've read this year. Bethany Joy writes from such a vulnerable place (and doesn't talk about OTH until the second half of the book). This book walks through her upbringing within her biological christian family. Her parents divorce when she is 16 and she moves to New York to purse acting after high school. She begins to pursue the Lord on her own by visiting different churches and meeting other believing actors. When she moves to LA to continue to pursue acting a friend invites her to a bible study for fellow actors. What started out as a normal gathering all changed when Les and his family showed up and joined their study. Through many years of her being convinced that this "spiritual family" loved her and was everything she needed and nothing else she felt so lonely being single that she decides to marry the Les' son. After years and years of conflict, abuse, and her mental health declining- through the bravery of other members questioning and leaving "the family" Bethany Joy is awaken to what is actaully going on around her and that she is indeed a part of a cult (despite those closest to her outside of the cult questioning this family all along." Because she journaled so much during those 10+ years of her life she is able to recount stories/memories with such clarity and detail.

Bethany Joy- thank you for sharing your story. May others be encouraged and brave enough to come forward and do the same.

Thank you to the author and publisher for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Book was released 10/22/24 so grab a copy now!

Fascinating. I knew who Bethany Joy Lenz was because of One Tree Hill but I never knew she was in a cult until I started listening to their podcast and reading her story and how she got indoctrinated into a cult without her knowledge is mind blowing

Thank you Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for allowing me to have an eARC of Dinner for Vampire by Bethany Joy Lenz in exchange for an honest opinion.

I have loved Joy since I first started One Tree Hill. She has been someone I have consistently admired and finding out that she was writing a memoir was so exciting for me as an avid OTH fan. It's been my comfort show for so so long. Dinner for Vampires was so heartbreaking hearing about all of the things she had experienced and seeing that a lot of it happened in the time of her filming One Tree Hill. Hearing about her experiences and how they completely shaped her life was so sad because it felt like a lot of what ifs. It made me so angry for her knowing that she was so manipulated by people who she thought cared for her. Thank you Joy for sharing your story with us.

Thank you Simon and Schuster for my gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.


I went back and forth with the audio and ebook version. I highly recommend on audio. There were some special guest voices in the audio that was cool to see! It’s crazy to this was all happening to Joy throughout her entire run with OTH. I’m glad she has opened up about her story and glad she is healing with her daughter. There was some OTH scoop sprinkled on throughout!

If you loved One Tree Hill television show as much as I did, then you will enjoy this book. It will captivate you. The memoir, Dinner For Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show by Bethany Joy Lenz, tells an inspiring story. It describes how a woman broke away from a cult in her personal life.

ABOUT THE BOOK:
Bethany played Haley James Scott on the show. She was an only child. She had to take care of herself growing up. Looking for familial love and someone to guide her, she joined a Bible study group. She didn’t foresee that this group would turn into a sinister cult that changed her life.

WHAT I LIKED:
This is a well-written memoir. It was like reading a fictional story, and it wasn’t dry like some memoirs. I enjoyed reading the behind-the-scenes with the actors on the show. Sometimes we forget that they are just actors leading their own lives. Even though Bethany’s friends were skeptical of her “Bible family” back home, they did what they could to support her.

I felt for Bethany as I was reading her story. People were using her and her stardom for their own financial gain. I cheered her on as she struggled to escape the cult and give her daughter a normal life. I never could understand how people are swept up by cults, but after reading her story, I now understand how easily it could happen. I’m glad she decided to share her story with her readers.

I would definitely recommend this memoir.

If you would like to read more of my book reviews, you can find them at: https://judiholst.com/book-reviews/

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster, and Bethany Joy Lenz for my free copy. This is my honest review.

A really interesting story that highlights that you never really know what anyone else is going through and also that cults can be anywhere not just what we think of from movies. Great read. Engagingly told. Awesome on audio!

I don't know much about the author and was never a OTH devotee (although I am now considering watching it) but her memoir was captivating.

I am a fan of One Tree Hill, so I was expecting more about it in this memoir. It's mostly about her life as an actress and in the cult. I found it very interesting, but there was a lot of religious stuff I skimmed over. She told an intriguing story, and I'm sorry she had to go through this. She was taken advantage of for sure! I'm glad she was brave enough to share!

Oh man, this memoir is written in the most captivating way. I love how Bethany shares her story and love her bravery.

Thank you Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for an advanced copy of " Dinner for Vampires". As a die hard One Tree Hill fan, I was very curious about this book since Hailey Scott always seemed the epitome of perfection. To find out that that actress portraying her was being mentally abused by a cult after feeling abandoned by her parents was shocking. I will say I wish there was more OTH dirt, but the fact that she overcame what she did is amazing.

Thank you NetGalley and by Simon & Schuster for the Advance Readers Copy of Dinner for Vampires
by Bethany Joy Lenz

Bethany Joy Lenz is best known for her role as Haley James Scott on One Tree Hill, and if I am being honest I did not watch when it was first aring, It wasn't until much later after watching Bethany Joy Lenz in Hallmark Christmas movies, that my teenage daughter recognized her from OTH because she had just started watching, we from then on binged and I have loved her since and still watch her in the Hallmark movies,

I had no idea about her past and book focuses a lot more on Joy and her time in the cult, and they way this experience shaped her.

Amazing read

Being a huge fan of One Tree Hill it was so shocking to me to learn that Bethany was going through all this heartache while filming. She was unfortunately taken advantage of by someone that she thought had her best interest. So heartbreaking!

I loved the way she told her story. She really showed us how this all unfolded and how she got out. I hope for only good things for her and her daughter. They deserve to live a peaceful life.

This was a brave story to tell.

I live a life where Bethany Joy Lenz is the heroine of all my Romance films. She is one of my favorite actresses because she exudes kindness and genuineness and love. I could see how, at her youngest and most impressionable time, she fell under the power and control of a Christian fundamentalist group, which was a cult. To have read the dark times this woman, who beams with an infectious brightness, suffered through is unfathomable. She highlighted how simply but pervasively she went down a rabbit hole of being controlled by a small group at a time when she wanted a connection to something greater, kinder, loving, giving and supportive while rejecting the very thing she sought that was being offered by her own parents. Phew. This was a wild ride with little insights of her time at One Tree Hill.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for such an insightful memoir.

I was a huge fan of one tree hill in particular Hailey James Scott and I can honestly say I never knew any of her affiliations with a cult and was shocked and surprised to see such an intelligent confident young woman was pulled into it. This book made me realize it can happen to anyone this book was eye opening about how Christianity can be used to con people. I hope others read this and take it as a warning. I am so glad that she was willing to share her story so that hopefully others can be spared such fates. I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for an honest review.